When you go camping with kids you cannot have too many first aid supplies. Of course you hope that during the course of the trip, no one will get any injuries and that everything will go smoothly but that rarely happens. Injuries might be small scratches, bug bites, and bruised knees or they could be serious cuts, sprains or even a broken bone or burns from a campfire.
When you’re out in the wilderness camping, you might be several miles or several hours from any kind of medical help so having enough first aid supplies to at least stabilize and begin treatment of an injured person is crucial. You might think that you don’t really need all of these first aid supplies, but if a situation comes up and you don’t have them, you will regret not having a well stocked first aid kit.
You can buy pre-assembled kits from camping stores but many families prefer to make their own kits because then they can personalize them with items that are specific to their kids and spouse. A pre-assembled kit is a good place to start and will give you a lot of the basics that you need, so you might want to buy a pre-assembled kit and just add to it. However, expert family campers say it’s cheaper in the long run to stock your own kit from scratch because you get more materials that way.
When you go camping with kids, you will need to have several first aid kids. You will need one large, main first aid kit that has the bulk of the first aid supplies but each child should also have their own individual first aid kit that they can carry with them. Pre-assembled kits are fine for kids’ first aid packs. They usually contain bandages and gauze for small cuts and scraped, calamine lotion, antibiotic cream and Q tips. Add to that some bug spray, sunscreen, and hand sanitizer and that should be fine.
But when it comes to stocking the big first aid kit, you’re going to need a little more than that. The first thing that you need to do is get a container for your first aid kit. You can buy a first aid box in some specialty stores but a cheap alternative is a plastic tackle box. A plastic tackle box will be lightweight, durable, waterproof, and will have lots of room inside for all your supplies.
Once you have your tackle box to store all your first aid supplies then it’s time to go shopping. Check out discount pharmacies or medical supply warehouses and even discount stores to get the best price possible on these essential first aid supplies.
To make shopping easier, you can just print out this list and take it to the store with you:
Essential First Aid Supplies
• Band Aids- Get some ‘kid friendly’ ones in fun colors or patterns. Also get several different kinds and sizes like butterfly or knuckle bandages.
• Gauze Pads – Get several sizes
• Gauze – Several rolls in different sizes
• Bandage tape
• Duct tape
• Electrical tape
• Sanitary napkins or diapers (great for stopping the bleeding of large cuts or wounds)
• Vet Wrap – Vet Wrap is a nice waterproof alternative to tape. Plus it comes in fun colors and can be used as a brace as well.
• Scissors
• Razor
• Moleskin
• Water Purifying Tablets
• Antiseptic Ointment
• Ace Bandages
• Calamine Lotion
• Baking Soda
• Diarrhea medicine
• Cold and sinus medicines
• Cough/Throat Lozenges
• Ibuprofen or pain relievers
• Mirror
• Hand Sanitizer
• Baby wipes
• Tweezers
• Antiseptic Wipes
• Eyewash
• Aloe Vera gel
• Disinfectant Soap
• Latex Gloves
• CPR Breathing Mask
• Ipecac
• Charcoal Tablets
• Sewing Needles
• Thread
• Hydrogen Peroxide
• Cold and hot packs
• Snake bite kit
• Epi pen for anyone that is allergic to things like bees
• Avon Skin So Soft or another bug repellant
• Bulb irrigating syringes
• Antihistamines
• Antacid
• Safety pins
• A card with any medical conditions that your family has written on it
• The name and phone number of your doctor and pharmacy and emergency contact
• A disposable cell phone that has pre-programmed phone numbers for your doctor, the park ranger station or the office at the campground, the nearest hospital, and your emergency contact. Teach the kids how to use the pre-sets so that if something happened to you they could call for help.
• Emergency flares
• Sunscreen
You can also put in your own medications that you take daily to make sure that they stay in a safe, dry place. The good news is that you will probably only have to buy these materials once. Each year before you go camping, go through the first aid kit and replace anything that is outdated or has been used already.
A good way to keep track of what you have is to print out that list and keep a copy in the box as an inventory list. Then if you use an item from the list cross it off and you will know what items need replacing without having to dig through the whole kit.
